cerisesvschemisesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“cerises” and “chemises” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#18,955
“cerises” frequency rank
#11,539
“chemises” frequency rank
30494
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cerises chemises
Definition Pluriel de cerise. Pluriel de chemise.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set cerises and chemises apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
cerises
8 ch
chemises

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. cerises (\sə.ʁiz\) and chemises (\ʃə.miz\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30494, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cerises is recorded at frequency rank #18,955, classified as anoun, pronounced \sə.ʁiz\. chemises is at rank #11,539, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʃə.miz\.

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 30494, this pair ranks #309,949 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cerises vs chemises

Shared letters: ceis. Private to "cerises": r. Private to "chemises": hm.

"cerises" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "chemises" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cerisesccerises · ceirses · ceriess · cerisess · cerisses · cerrises · cersies · creises
  • chemisescchemises · cehmises · cheimses · chemiess · chemisess · chemisses · chemmises · chemsies

Frequency comparison

cerises#18,955
chemises#11,539

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "cerises" and "chemises" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\sə.ʁiz\ versus \ʃə.miz\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "cerises" or "chemises"?
"chemises" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,539 in our French list, against #18,955 for "cerises". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering cerises vs chemises

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “cerises” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list